Astronomy

There’s no arguing that. But all of the really cool stuff is way out there—beyond the edges our solar system—in deep space. In fact, our solar system is pretty lousy. Everyone learns about it in first grade: You’ve got nine planets (or eight since Pluto got the boot), a few boring moons flying around them, the Sun, and that’s pretty much it—right?

10 The Asteroid With Its Own Moon Logic would dictate that anything smaller than a planet doesn’t have the gravitational pull to hold onto a moon, but thats not always the case. 9 Io If ever there was a world that should remind you of Hell, it’s Jupiter’s moon Io. The eruptions on Io can be enormous, coating over 30 square kilometers (11.6 sq mi) in volcanic material, and they can be seen from space. Io’s route through Jupiter’s magnetosphere causes it to generate great amounts of electricity that make lightning storms in Jupiter’s upper atmosphere. 8Pluto Isn’t Anything Like We Thought 7 Mimas 6 Ganymede And beyond that?
Where is the ISS?
Astronomy Picture of the Day Archive.

Pretty empty out here. Here comes our first planet... As it turns out, things are pretty far apart. We’ll be coming up on a new planet soon. Most of space is just space. Halfway home. Destination: Mars! It would take about seven months to travel this distance in a spaceship. Sit back and relax. When are we gonna be there? Seriously. This is where we might at least see some asteroids to wake us up. I spy, with my little eye... something black. If you were on a road trip, driving at 75mi/hr, it would have taken you over 500 years to get here from earth. All these distances are just averages, mind you.

The Solar System is full of planets, moons, asteroids, comets, minor planets, and many other exciting objects. Learn about Io, the explosive moon that orbits the planet Jupiter, or explore the gigantic canyons and deserts on Mars. What Is The Solar System? The Solar System is made up of all the planets that orbit our Sun. In addition to planets, the Solar System also consists of moons, comets, asteroids, minor planets, and dust and gas.

Everything in the Solar System orbits or revolves around the Sun. How Did The Solar System form? This is an important question, and one that is difficult for scientists to understand. Scientists believe that the Solar System evolved from a giant cloud of dust and gas. At the center of this spinning cloud, a small star began to form. Further away from the center of this mass where the star was forming, there were smaller clumps of dust and gas that were also collapsing. A Great Storm Beyond The Oort Cloud. The-scale-of-the-universe-2.swf (application/x-shockwave-flash Object)
Lunar Calendar 2012. The Hubble Heritage Project Website. 32 Nearby Stars.